What place does Boric Acid have in woodworking

Is it safe or should I just not mess with it at all? I read an article along time ago about how it inhances the color of walnut or something of that nature, well anyway just lookin for some opinions but really I will try anything once or twice, but I would like to be safe and leave well enough alone if it’s not safe but just wondering

I buy Borate powder in 5 gallon buckets and mix it in a 15% solution to treat wood against termites, boring beetles and any other bugs that eat cellulose. It will last at least 40 years in a crawl space. It is also used in many garden pest products to control pests.

I have sprinkled it all over and through stickered maple to keep the insects out, and it hasn’t seemed to impacted the color. Seems like a relatively mundane insecticide. If you’re using it in powdered form I’d wear eye protection and at least a dust mask, if not a respirator, but I do that for pretty much anything finely powdered.

Years ago, some telemarketers sold bottles of boric acid with a name of roach pruff on it. LOL, they made a fortune on it by marking up a cheap common material up so high. As mentioned it has medicinal uses as a eyewash for eye infections, and it is a great insecticide. Pull your fridge out, sprinkle it in that area, push fridge back, and you will eliminate your roach problems for about a year. Roaches love the warmth and moisture there. Bake cupcakes with boric acid and crumble or place them near a fire ant or any other ant area, the workers will happily take that to their queen. End of problem. Aphids on roses? same deal, crumble some boric acid laced cupcakes, 90% of aphids are actually cows with clipped wings farmed by ants. Ignore the cows, kill the farmers. Boric acid is super mild to all higher life forms. If your kid or dog eats the laced cupcakes, it no worse than if they ate a orange, in fact the orange is much more acidic.

In the 20th century, people soaked hay in boric acid and used it as insulation and as a insect repellant and fire retardant. There was a mansion in my town that is now a museum and they were pulling all that stuff out back in the 80s while I did some landscape work for them. It had been up there apparently for over 100 years.

Boric acid is not an insect deterrent, it’s a silent killer. It’s use should be targeted and used by professionals. Many insects are beneficial even if we consider them pests. I would not kill any insect or bug without really good reason. Plus careless use could affect bee colonies which are already down by 1/3 of their populations which threaten food shortages.

-- A positive attitude will take you much further than positive thinking ever will.

boric acid will not help with fleas. In carpeted areas you can mix sevin dust with those carpet deodorizing powders like carpet fresh and that will help, in concrete or linoleum ares you can spray spectracide on baseboards etc and that will help, however do NOT do either of these if you have cats. This will make your cats sick cause they will pick it up on their feet and cats constantly lick their feet. Don’t seem to be a big issue with dogs though.

Yeah, after I posted that I did some investigating online and found boric acid can make cats sick is they ingest enough. But . . . I did run across another solution that is non-toxic to people and cats and that is FOOD GRADE diatomaceous earth. I am going to give that a try. You can even rub it into the cats fur and the cat can safely ingest it. You might want to Google food grade diatomaceous earth and cats. Its is interesting.

Planeman

-- Always remember: It is a mathematical certainty that half the people in this country are below average in intelligence!

Boric Acid is very effective on fleas. If they’re around your shop, in the carpet for example, you can sprinkle it on the carpet and brush it in, leave it for an hour or so then vacuum it up. You’ll need to do this every couple of days or so until the fleas are gone. If they’re in the cages, BA isn’t a good option.

@Planeman40 has it, diatomaceous earth is excellent for treating fleas and mites in cages. I use it to keep my chooks flea-free. Just sprinkle it in the cage and you’re all done. Food grade is consumable so there’s no need to vacuum it up. It should greatly reduce the numbers, if not eradicate.